Churches and Cathedrals of Kyiv

In the year 988 knyazh (prince) Vladimir Svyatoslavovich baptised Kyiv citizens in a Dnipro river. Since that day Christianity spread all over Eastern Europe. In a memory to this day on the right bank of the river in Kiev there is a mighty monument to the Vladimir (sculptor K. Clodt 1853). By the 12th century 1600 churches were constructed.

Three of them can be seen today, they are in the list of the World’s Heritage and are under the UNESCO protection.

St. Sophia Cathedral was constructed in 1037 by the knyazh Yaroslav the Wise in honor to celebrate the victory under Pecheneg’s  pagans tribe.  Same as Constontinopol’s Sophia Kiev’s cathedral was named after Sophia - celestial wisdom. Second stone church was built by Visantian masters together with local experts.  St. Sophia is made by the Christian architect symbolic: the building symbolizes Noah's ark, the altar is turned to the east, towards the sun. Thirteen domes are symbolizing 12 apostles and a Jesus Christ.  Lots of mosaics and frescos remained intact since the 11th century. The most famous mosaic of a Holy Mother Oranta and Sarcophagus of the Yaroslav the Wise can be found inside the church.

Kiev Pechersk Lavra is the second object in Kiev that is in the list of the World’s Heritage that is under the UNESCO protection and it's also considered to be one of the Seven Wonders of Ukraine. Today’s functional monastery for men was built in 1951 when Yaroslav the Wise was on the throne. It was founded by monk Antoniy. Originally monks used to live in caves. Today there are kept relics of the monks that are believed to be hilling and saint. On the territory of the lavra there are also under gate Trinity church, Great Lavra Beltower, Yspenskyi cathedral, Refractory monastery.  Part of the Pecharsk Lavra is a museum where there are a National museum of Ornamental art, a National museum of a book, Museum of theatre and cinema, Museum of treasures and Museum of miniature.

One more building of the 12th century is a St. Cyril’s Church. It was constructed by the palatine family Olgovichi in the 12th century. It was constructed as a family shrine. This church has preserved the biggest number of 12th century frescos – 800 square meters. Among them there are some true masterpieces as 16 scenes from Cyril Alexandriyskiy’s life and famous fresco “Angel that rolls the sky”. An undoubted embellishment are frescos and iconostasis of the 19th century created by the genius Russian painter Michel Vrubel. Today St. Cyril’s church is a working church and at the same time is a filial of the National Architect- Historical Cultural centre “Sophia Kievskaya”.

There are caves under the St Cyril’s Church that guide to the Stone Age settlement  that was found by the Kiev archeologist Vikintiy Khvoiko in 1903year, that proved that Kiev has been inhabited not only 1500 years ago but 50,000 years ago.

According to a legend Apostol Andrew - a preacher of Jesus came to the hill put his cross and said that a church should be build on this place. From that time several churches were here but only one remains till our days. This is the St. Andrew's church that was built in 1762 by the order of the empress of the Russian Empire. It was constructed by the famous architect F.B. Rustrelli who created Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. It is said to be one of the best works of the architect. Visitors to the church marvel at the intricate sunlit interiors – Corinthian and Ionic columns, ornate cornices on the walls and drums and lavish stuccowork can all be seen inside.  In 1968 the church stopped working and till today it functions as a museum. 

Vladimir’s cathedral was constructed to honor 900 years of baptism of Kievan Rus. In 1852 Pillared of Kiev send a letter to Nicholas I to give a permission to build a cathedral in Kiev. And he did. And so in 1882 the construction was finished. The cathedral is a real masterpiece in the inside. Famous artists M.A. Vrubel, V.M. Vasnecov, M.V. Nesterov, P.A. Svedomskyi were painting its walls for 10 years. In 1944 it became a cathedral of Kiev metropolitan.